There are three key components in a car drive train system, the engine, to provide propulsion, the bell housing, to connect the engine to either a manual gearbox or automatic transmission and house either a clutch or torque converter, and a gearbox/transmission, to allow selection of gear ratios either manually or automatically.
These three components of the drive train system must be indexed precisely and perfectly aligned. If all three components are not aligned perfectly, ideally to within 10 microns, then expensive and irreparable damage can be done to the engine, clutch or gearbox. No manufacturer can control the alignment of all three components 100% due to tolerances and alloy shrinkage in the various casting processes used to make each of the components.
This is accentuated in the aftermarket and race car project environments where each of the engine, bell housing and gearbox could be made by three separate manufacturers and thus vary accordingly.
The most common means of attempting to adjust alignment of the engine block and bell housing is the use of adjustable or offset dowels. However, such adjustable dowels are not widely available and the process of installation of adjustable dowels is difficult and time consuming. Dependent on the components to be used in each custom engine set up, the nature and size of such adjustable dowels will also differ requiring a specific set of dowels to be obtained for each engine and bell housing combination.
Other means of coupling the engine and transmission have been devised. US20160305533 provides a kit and adaptor plate which is intended to allow the combination of an engine used with an automatic transmission to be adapted to fit to a manual transmission of a different manufacturer by providing a plate with a variety of selectable holes.
While the offset dowels and the prior art noted above include methods which have been devised in order to provide alignment and combination between components from different manufacturers, such methods suffer from various defects. An improved and more efficient solution to provide convenient and adjustable alignment is desired.